FRIENDS OF THE COOMBE

Coombe Women & Infants University Hospital Annual Report 2020

The year began with Friends of the Coombe being named the Enterprise Rent-A-Car Charity of the Year and a number of families and supporters indicating that they would like to hold fundraising events in aid of the charity. However, the COVID-19 pandemic required us to quickly adapt our plans as public health restrictions prevented physical events being held.

We were honoured to partner with award-winning interior designer Gwen Kenny and colour consultant Adele Roche to co-produce the InsideOut Homeshow which was originally planned as an in-person event. Featuring names such as Hugh Wallace, Dermot Bannon, Aisling Larkin, Cathy Kelly, and Andrew Rudd, the two-day virtual event raised €35,000 for Friends of the Coombe. We deeply appreciate the considerable time and energy Gwen and Adele committed to the event, and are extremely grateful to the many artists, architects, interior designers, garden designers and technical advisors who made the show possible. This was the first year of The Master’s Coombe Camino Challenge, a seven-year journey along the Camino de Santiago concluding in 2026, the bicentennial year of the CWIUH. Despite COVID-19 preventing a group of ten staff from the CWIUH travelling to France to embark on the first of seven week-long Camino walks in aid of Friends of the Coombe, we were able to create our own ‘Coombe Camino’ comprising a 5km looped walk beginning and ending at the CWIUH. Thanks to the support of colleagues from the CWIUH and their family members who walked the route individually to ensure compliance with COVID-19 public health requirements, a collective 780km was walked over 12 hours, the equivalent of the entire Camino de Santiago.

As well as welcoming the new Master of the CWIUH, Prof. Michael O’Connell to the Board, we published a five-year strategic plan, setting out our priorities in the context of supporting excellence in the care of women and babies at the CWIUH.

This has been a challenging year for all on so many levels. We are extremely grateful to each and every person who has supported Friends of the Coombe by giving their time and talents, as well as donating much-needed funds.

Friends of the Coombe purchased a new transport ventilator and a lumbar puncture training simulator mannequin for the NICU. An epidural simulation mannequin was purchased for the department of perioperative medicine. Friends of the Coombe provide ongoing accommodation support, for parents of babies cared for in the NICU and SCBU following transfer from other hospitals throughout the country. Friends of the Coombe also provide support for the palliative care and bereavement service.